Cannot get Cordova project building in VS2015 with the facebook connect plugin - facebook

Question

I've tried everything, but cannot seem to get it working. I've done the following:
1.Remove the plugins with the variables via the config designer.
2.Update to Cordova 5.0.0 via the config designer (Platforms > Cordova CLI)
3.From the command line: 1.Go to your project directory.
2.Type the following substituting the plugin name for the plugin you wish to add:
3.npm install -g cordova
4.cordova plugin add nl.x-services.plugins.launchmyapp --variable URL_SCHEME=myscheme
But I still cannot build. Here is the detailed output from MSBUILD :
http://pastebin.com/7enSzCxs
And a highlight of some of the errors I'm getting
1> BUILD FAILED
1> C:\Users\Adam\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\tools\ant\build.xml:601: The following error occurred while executing this line:
1> F:\GIT\CordovaFb\BlankCordovaApp1\fbtest\platforms\android\com.phonegap.plugins.facebookconnect\myapp2568ddfac877478fb806edc911cff37e-FacebookLib\custom_rules.xml:4: F:\GIT\CordovaFb\BlankCordovaApp1\fbtest\platforms\android\com.phonegap.plugins.facebookconnect\myapp2568ddfac877478fb806edc911cff37e-FacebookLib\ant-build does not exist.
And
1> BUILD FAILED
1> C:\Users\Adam\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\tools\ant\build.xml:470: The following error occurred while executing this line:
1> C:\Users\Adam\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\tools\ant\build.xml:441: Unable to delete directory F:\GIT\CordovaFb\BlankCordovaApp1\fbtest\platforms\android\com.phonegap.plugins.facebookconnect\myapp2568ddfac877478fb806edc911cff37e-FacebookLib\bin
And finally
1>
1> F:\GIT\CordovaFb\BlankCordovaApp1\fbtest\platforms\android\cordova\node_modules\q\q.js:126
1> throw e;
1> ^
1> Error code 1 for command: cmd with args: /s /c "ant debug -f F:\GIT\CordovaFb\BlankCordovaApp1\fbtest\platforms\android\build.xml"
1> Command finished with error code 8: F:\GIT\CordovaFb\BlankCordovaApp1\fbtest\platforms\android\cordova\build.bat --debug,--ant,
1>MDAVSCLI : error : F:\GIT\CordovaFb\BlankCordovaApp1\fbtest\platforms\android\cordova\build.bat: Command failed with exit code 8
1>Done executing task "MdaVsCli" -- FAILED.
1>Done building target "BuildMDA" in project "fbtest.jsproj" -- FAILED.
1>Build FAILED.
Any ideas at all? Using a fresh install of VS2015 with the tools for cordova, trying to build for android.
EDIT:
So after taking the advice of Kamil Pajdzik below, I used build.bat to compile it and found some issues with my path being waaay to long. I mapped a drive to cut down the length and it will now build AOK from the build.bat.
Still no dice in Visual studio though (I assume this is difference between build.bat using gradle and vs using ant).
My only error now is :
1> -code-gen:
1> [mergemanifest] Merging AndroidManifest files into one.
1> [mergemanifest] Manifest merger disabled. Using project manifest only.
1> [echo] Handling aidl files...
1> [aidl] No AIDL files to compile.
1> [echo] ----------
1> [echo] Handling RenderScript files...
1> [echo] ----------
1> [echo] Handling Resources...
1> [aapt] Generating resource IDs...
1> [aapt] Z:\fbtest\platforms\android\bin\AndroidManifest.xml:14: error: Error: No resource found that matches the given name (at 'value' with value '#string/fb_app_id').
1> [aapt]
1> [aapt] Z:\fbtest\platforms\android\bin\AndroidManifest.xml:15: error: Error: No resource found that matches the given name (at 'label' with value '#string/fb_app_name').
1> [aapt]
1>
1> BUILD FAILED
1> C:\Users\Adam\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\tools\ant\build.xml:653: The following error occurred while executing this line:
1> C:\Users\Adam\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\tools\ant\build.xml:698: null returned: 1
1>

Answer 1

Okay, this appears to be the issue. There are two problems. The first is a max path size issue on Windows. The issue is that it the plugin uses part of the the app's ID to create a folder, and VS by default uses a random identifier that is fairly long so this exacerbates the issue.
To resolve:
Update the ID for your project to something short (com.myproject.short)
Move the project to the root of your drive
Go to the project folder and re-add the android platform. From the command line:
cordova platform remove android
cordova platform add android
The second issue that then remains is an "Ant" build seems to be missing a folder which likely is a bug. If you add the "ant-build" folder in the location it complains about the build succeeds.
Also - Be sure plugins/fetch.json is included in your checkins since this is where your plugin variables are stored. If that file is deleted, you'll need to remove and re-add the plugin again. From your update it sounds like either VS is still set to use Cordova 4.3.0 and/or plugins/fetch.json does not contain your plugin variables. You should see something like this if the plugin was added using Cordova 5.0.0:
{
"com.phonegap.plugins.facebookconnect": {
"source": {
"type": "registry",
"id": "com.phonegap.plugins.facebookconnect"
},
"is_top_level": true,
"variables": {
"APP_ID": "123",
"APP_NAME": "nbaer"
}
}
}
The "variables" section is what may be missing.

Answer 2

Try running F:\GIT\CordovaFb\BlankCordovaApp1\fbtest\platforms\android\cordova\build.bat from a command line. It usually gives more information.
Cordova 5.0.0 requires Android SDK in version 22. You can check if you have that installed via SDK manager.

Answer 3

This particular plugin appears to have some challenges with Cordova 5.0.0. Android underwent significant changes in this release that may be causing issues.
https://github.com/Wizcorp/phonegap-facebook-plugin/issues/1010
I am seeing failures if you build either with Ant or Gradle using a pure Cordova command line interface project. Likely a plugin fix is required to resolve the issue. I reccomend adding comments to this defect to help the plugin author resolve the issue.

Answer 4

So thanks to Chucks help, I managed to get a build working. It was indeed a combination of path length exceeding 260 characters (which I solved by mapping my solution directory to a drive) and a couple of folders not being created.
They were in my case :
F:\Git\CordovaFb\FBTest\platforms\android\com.phonegap.plugins.facebookconnect\myapp7a29c6c80cee4b2aa0dc8a70dc57527d-FacebookLib\bin\classes
and
F:\Git\CordovaFb\FBTest\platforms\android\com.phonegap.plugins.facebookconnect\myapp7a29c6c80cee4b2aa0dc8a70dc57527d-FacebookLib\ant-build
I seem to have to manually recreate these from time to time as they get deleted on some builds...
So the full process is as follows (for others who have the same issue)
1) Create your solution in as short a path as possible (map a drive if you need to)
2) Add your cordova project to the solution, double click config.xml, goto platforms and change the CLI version to 5.0.0
3) Fire up a command prompt in the solutions root
4) Type the following cordova plugin add https://github.com/Wizcorp/phonegap-facebook-plugin.git --variable APP_ID="00000000" --variable APP_NAME="My App"
5) When its done you'll have the plugin in the plugins dir and the fetch.json file should contain the variables you entered for appid and appname
6) Do a full build and you'll get some errors (Exit code 8)
7) Manually create the following :
[Solution Route]\platforms\android\com.phonegap.plugins.facebookconnect\myapp7a29c6c80cee4b2aa0dc8a70dc57527d-FacebookLib\bin\classes`
and
[Solution Route]\platforms\android\com.phonegap.plugins.facebookconnect\myapp7a29c6c80cee4b2aa0dc8a70dc57527d-FacebookLib\bin\classes`
8) Your build should succeed! Check periodically if those paths still exist.
This should get you by until the next release of the cordova tools for VS (if they fix it)

Answer 5

platforms\android\AndroidManifest.xml
just change android:minSdkVersion="14" to android:minSdkVersion="15"